For 15 years, while maintaining a busy ADR Practice, working with some outstanding lawyers and Senior Judges, as well as serving as a “Senior Judge” for the Maryland Judiciary, I blogged as a Op Ed column for The Daily Record (13 years) and later for Maryland Matters branding my writing/Blog as “A Pursuit of Justice.” My Blog with my articles titled and categorized by subject matter can be found on the Web at www.apursuitofjustice.com
A couple of years ago, I broke from that labor of love to publish those columns and articles in 3 books entitled:
“Black Robe Fever – The Role of the Judge in American Society
“The Winding Road – Criminal Courts, Civil Matters And The Ongoing Quest For Access to Justice”
“Of Politics & Economics – The School of Hard Knocks and Gentle Persuasion.”
After that, for the next 18 months, I worked on my memoir, “Lessons Lived and Learned – My Life On and Off The Bench” which first published in 2023, and is now being republished as an Audio Book. These books are found on our website, https://judgestevenplatt.com/Books/Lessons-Lived-and-Learned.
Looking back at those columns, blog articles, and some of the coverage they received, as expected, a few are dated having described events, people, and trends that have come and gone. But, if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself, hopefully without hurting myself by pulling a muscle patting myself on the back, I correctly predicted some events that have ultimately occurred, including all the way back on August 27, 2015, the appearance and rise of Donald J. Trump. I also predicted what the effect on our politics and culture that the different judicial philosophies would be. See my Blog at www.apursuitofjustice.com
So, in 2025, I am back to blogging because it is fun and in the uncertain and unpredictable times, it is therapeutic to try to find words in the English language to interpret and perhaps explain events and the actions, and in some cases non-actions, of fellow human beings which are not easily understood.
My Blog and the opinions set forth therein will hopefully facilitate its namesake – “A Pursuit of Justice.” A podcast is also being planned. Stay tuned!
In order to do that, let me clarify a few principles which will guide my work and writing going forward. First and foremost, my opinions will never be presented as anybody’s opinion but my own. So, the following words will never be on any printed page written or spoken by me – “The American People Think or Say,” “They say,” “It has been suggested,” “Everyone knows.” Secondly, if an idea of mine is drawn from a source, the source will be identified and acknowledged. Third – Facts will be distinguished from opinion and theories. It’s not that hard to do! Fourth – Impressions are not facts and Finally/Fifth – Complexity will be recognized and with that recognition that my opinion could be wrong and is not likely universally shared.
We’re all products of our individual life experiences which, of course, includes our upbringing, education, oath, formal and informal. Our opinions are the products of those experiences. If any potential reader wants to know mine, short of reading my memoir, the earlier mentioned “Lesson Lived and Learned – My Life On and Off the Bench” take a look at the Table of Contents of that book.
In the meantime, be aware that in recent months, I have increasingly turned away or off Cable News as a source of information based on my observation/perception that the “news” coming from these sources more often than not, (with a few notable exceptions) developed and proceeded with an agenda that is shaped by “Talking Points” from the Left or the Right, MAGA or Anti-MAGA. Furthermore, as a result of the 24/7 news cycle, these points which are largely spoken by “Experts” whose agendas, in many cases, are easy to detect and are repeated at nauseum in order to fill the time which they are responsible for each and every day. In lieu of that, I have turned to watching classic movies in which the “Good guys and gals WIN.” Why? They lift me up!
Those movies include serious historically based movies no doubt dramatizing important historical events but in large part actually depicting events which shaped US history and arguably world history in some cases. My movie watching habits also include old fashioned westerns and other dramas where Good triumphs over Evil. These movies will be discussed in future articles.
I will, however, take the liberty of recommending one movie in particular to our elected leaders in the Congress of The United States, The Federal Executive Branch, including the President of The United States, and The Federal/State Judiciary. That movie is “Judgement of Numbers” staring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark and Maximillion Schell. It is the story of the historically based Trial of Three German Judges for their role in the administration of the “judicial system” in Nazi Germany. Each of the Defendant Judges offers a different legal and factual defense to the same charges, including “Crimes Against Humanity.” These distinctive defenses split the 3-Judge Tribunal chaired by the Presiding Judge portrayed by Spencer Tracy. The complexity of the cases of the actions and events which the Defendant Judges adjudicated during the reign of the Third Reich and Adolph Hitler shows that judicial philosophy did matter then and also mattered when the actions of these German judges were later themselves adjudicated. More on that in future columns.
The point of the message that this movie delivers is not to compare/contrast what is going on now in our country, indeed the world, which is being bandied about very carelessly with the terms “Fascism”, “Communism,” “Socialism,” “Capitalism,” etc. Rather, the point made in this move is to answer the question asked, after years of research, by one of my mentors, the now deceased, former Chief Judge of The District Court of Maryland, Robert F. Sweeney – “Where were the Judges and the Lawyers.”- when what is now acknowledged as an evil Nazi regime was allowed to murder 6 million people, attack without provocation sovereign nations and generally deprive their fellow human beings of basic human rights. Even more troubling, could anything like this happen again?
The answer to that question which this classic movie provides is that like every other human endeavor. The judges and lawyers of that time and now were not in any one place or of one mindset. That is these human beings, and these events were more complicated than either their admirers and/or detractors wanted to believe. How and why will be the repeated themes of my Blog going forward. I hope you will STAY TUNED!